Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has vowed he will never back Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma for Senate President in 2027, alleging that the governor is leveraging his office to further his own political goals.
Wike issued this statement on Monday during TVC News’ Journalists’ Hangout, as tensions continue to mount between him and APC governors regarding his Rainbow Coalition in the run-up to the 2027 elections.
The FCT minister, who noted that certain politicians who failed to secure APC nominations had turned to other platforms to run in the 2027 elections, said Uzodinma was aware that such candidates might ultimately decline to support his bid for the Senate presidency.
“Now, the other people who they have removed and not given a ticket have found an alternative to run. And he knows that if they run and they win, it means that they are not going to support him to be the Senate President, and knowing fully well that they are running under Wike’s support of PDP, they will not support them.
“Of course, life or death, I will never support Hope Uzodinma to become the Senate President of Nigeria. Everybody knows that. Nobody should ask me questions about it; it is not personal,” Wike said.
He was responding to the political conflict surrounding the Rainbow Coalition, which has increasingly placed him in direct confrontation with Uzodinma, the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF).
Wike claimed that Uzodinma had stirred up an internal political problem and did not have what it takes to fix it.
“You cause internal problems for yourself, and you do not have the capacity to solve the problem, and all you do is resort to blackmail,” he said.
The former governor of Rivers State also cast doubt on Uzodinma’s political path, recalling how he rose to become governor of Imo.
“Hope Uzodinma, whom I’ve always said and I tell people. Maybe, to God be the glory, he became a governor by taking 4th position.
“To the glory of God, he became a governor, and that is how this country will open her eyes and say what is going on,” Wike said.
According to the former Rivers State governor, Uzodinma’s second term as Imo governor is approaching its end, and the governor is seeking election to the Senate in 2027 with an eye on becoming Senate President.
“He wants to run for Senate president, and what he does is to say to his colleagues, ‘Let us be the ones (governors) who will produce the senators and members of the House of Reps and some of the senators.'”
“Of course, some of the governors are not experienced. So they buy it, thinking that he is trying to make them powerful. Not knowing that he has his own interest and agenda to become Senate President,” he said.
Wike claimed that some politicians who were denied tickets by the APC leadership or their state governors had consequently turned to alternative platforms, including the PDP, with support from his political structure.
He contended that should those candidates emerge victorious in their elections, they would not be bound to back Uzodinma’s bid to lead the Senate.
The disagreement is playing out amid the Rainbow Coalition, a political alliance promoted by Wike that draws in politicians from various parties.
The coalition has grown to cover Rivers, Kwara, Gombe, and Cross River, as politicians at odds with APC structures join the arrangement in the run-up to the 2027 elections.
Wike has always insisted that the Rainbow Coalition is mainly intended to rally support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election and is not a structure of the APC.
He has likewise stated that the PDP is free to keep putting forward candidates for governorship, the National Assembly, and the state Assembly contests.
This stance has set him at odds with APC governors, who, via the Progressive Governors Forum, cautioned that they would not back any political arrangement that could weaken the APC or harm its candidates.
